Triangle dental practice offers multiple services under one roof

Dr. Michael Riccobene landed in North Carolina nearly 20 years ago, never dreaming his dental practice would explode to 12 offices with more than 30 doctors offering services from oral surgery to orthodontics.

His latest office is what he calls one of the hubs. It’s at Cary’s Maynard Crossing in a building that once housed a Blockbuster store.

“Our patients love the fact that we do a lot of things,” Riccobene said. “I had the idea that if I set up hubs like our brand new Cary office, then we could have spoke offices that feed off it.”

Riccobene, 46, said he likes the idea of multidisciplinary care from the start, prompting him to spend two years in a residency program at UNC after completing dental school in New York. The extra training allowed him to offer services beyond basic dentistry at his first office in Selma.

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“People like to have things done under one roof,” he said. “The Selma office grew rapidly because we did comprehensive care. We did implants and root canals. It helped our office grow.”

In 2003, his family grew just as quickly when his triplets were born.

“I had triplets and was living in Willow Spring and commuting 45 minutes to work,” he said.

During his daily commute, he would pass through Garner and realized it was the ideal location for his second office.

“I had an associate in Selma,” he said. “A lot of our patients were coming from Garner.”

The new office, he said, “took off like wildfire.” By 2007, he had five offices.

The move into Cary was driven by his children.

“In 2008, the triplets were coming of age to go to school,” Riccobene said. “I wanted them to go to Cary Christian School, so we moved to Cary.”

Two years later, he opened the first Cary office at Kildaire Farm and Tryon roads.

“At that point, we have six offices, and people are screaming that they would love us to open a pediatric office,” he said.

In 2012, he opened a pediatric office in Cary.

Today, the 12 offices are about seven to 10 miles apart. Riccobene is pleased with the business he continues to build.

“I think for me, it was just wanting to provide all the services to my patients knowing that people like to build a relationship,” he said. “I’m a people pleaser. I want to build a relationship with them, knowing that it would build confidence and loyalty and would give me a lot of satisfaction.”

He credits his staff with much of his success.

“This is really a we, we, we,” he said. “I’ve been blessed to be associated with a lot of good doctors and administrators.

“What I think I learned early on is that if you create an environment where your employees thrive, you will be successful, because it will trickle down. If you create an environment for people to be happy, you create that culture.”

He doesn’t rule out future expansion.

“From a personal perspective, I’m comfortable, but I want to be proud of what I’m doing,” Riccobene said. “My parents came over on a boat from Italy. I think I have surpassed what I thought I would be able to do. I don’t see a reason to stop.”